The present invention generally relates to the field of information handling systems, and particularly to a system and method for communicating with an information handling system.
In the art of information handling systems, it is desirable to provide open architecture designs for information handling systems in which the specifications are published and available to all hardware and software developers, many of whom being direct competitors. The advantage of open architecture designs over closed architecture designs in which specifications are proprietary or otherwise not freely available is that no single company alone must bear the burden and costs of the infrastructure and research and development of the information handling system design. Thus, third parties are allowed to independently develop hardware enhancements and peripheral devices. The open-architecture design of die International Business Machines (IBM) compatible personal computer architecture contributed significantly to its present dominance in the computer industry.
However, a disadvantage of open architecture information handling systems is that new design standards are continually developed that are incompatible with previous standards. Further, since no single company or organization controls design standards, and since incompatible standards are often promulgated by competing companies, each vying to become the de facto industry standard, hardware devices developed for one standard risk becoming useless or obsolete if a different standard is adopted by the industry. Further, the hardware devices of presently existing devices must be redesigned to be compatible with newly adopted industry standards requiring further time and resources.
For example, Recommended Standard 232 (RS-232) promulgated by the Electrical Industries Association is a commonly implemented standard for serial communications in an information handling system. However, the Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a recently promulgated serial bus design standard for connecting peripherals to an information handling system. Thus, preexisting, or legacy, devices and the information handling systems for controlling such devices are typically designed in compliance with RS-232 standards and therefore may be incompatible with information handling systems that incorporate a USB standard bus. It would be therefore highly desirable to be able to utilize a hardware device such as a legacy device designed according to a first standard with an information handling system that implements a second standard differing from the first standard.
The present invention is directed to a system for communicating information between an information handling system and a peripheral device of the information handling system. In one embodiment, the system includes a processor for executing instructions on the information handling system, the processor being coupled to a bus for carrying information provided by the processor, a host controller coupled to the bus for receiving the information and for sending the information to the peripheral device according to a first communications standard, and a peripheral device controller coupled to the host controller for converting the information from the first communications standard to a second communications standard and for transmitting the information to the peripheral device in accordance with the second communications standard, the second communications standard being interpretable by the peripheral device.
The present invention is further directed to, in an information handling system, a method for communicating with a peripheral device with a first communication standard wherein the peripheral device interprets information according to a second communication standard differing from the first communications standard. In one embodiment of the invention, the method includes steps for generating control information for controlling the peripheral device, sending the control information to a peripheral device controller according to a first communications standard, converting the control information from the first communication standard to the second communication standard, the control information in the second communication standard being interpretable by the peripheral device, and transmitting the converted control information to the peripheral device according to the second communication standard whereby the peripheral device receives and interprets the control information and executes a control function in response thereto.
It is to be understood that both the forgoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention as claimed. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate an embodiment of the invention and together with the general description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
The numerous advantages of the present invention may be better understood by those skilled in the art by reference to the accompanying figures in which:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an information handling system operable to embody the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system in which a peripheral device is adapted to operate with a system bus in compliance with a bus communications standard in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a system in which a peripheral device designed to receive information transmitted in an infrared communications standard is adapted to operate with a system bus in compliance with a bus communications standard in accordance with the present invention; and
FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for communicating with a peripheral device with control information sent according to a first communications standard wherein the peripheral device interprets information according to a second communications standard in accordance with the present invention.